Oil Prices Ease ahead of Iran Nuclear Talks
Oil prices dipped in Asian trade Monday on profit-taking and ahead of fresh international talks on Iran's nuclear program, analysts said.
New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in December, fell 31 cents to $93.53, while Brent North Sea crude for January was also down 31 cents at $108.19.
"Iran is likely to be one of the factors," Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, told Agence France Presse.
"Also I think it's a case of a relatively subdued beginning of the week news-wise," he added. "There's a little bit of profit-taking as we head head into a new week."
Negotiations between Iran and the so-called P5+1 -- Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China plus Germany -- restart in Geneva on Wednesday after the last round failed to seal a deal.
Top diplomats insisted they were closing in on an interim agreement that would see Iran, a huge producer of oil, curb or freeze parts of its nuclear program for some relief from crippling sanctions.
Israel and the West suspect Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability alongside its uranium enrichment program, which Tehran insists is entirely for peaceful purposes.
Source: Agence France Presse
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